Career Profile: Hospitality Manager

by Angela Puma

A hospitality manager is in charge or all aspects of operations contributing to the day to day running of hospitality facilities. The most common facilities where hospitality managers are employed are restaurants, hotels, and casinos. Responsibilities associated with running these facilities include customer service, human resources, budgeting, and planning. Most individuals that enter the hospitality management industry have a degree in hospitality management or a related field.
There are many directions that you can go with a hospitality management degree. However, there are a few key skills that are universally valuable to all hospitality managers.The heart of all hospitality management positions is creating an exceptional guest experience. This experience is ensured by providing excellent customer service. A hospitality manager is responsible for overseeing and participating in this process.
To maximize guest satisfaction, it is imperative for a hospitality manager to have advanced communication skills. A hospitality manager will engage in multiple types of communication on a daily basis. This includes communicating with guests to address complaints, communicating tasks and standards to the facility staff, and coordinating with other businesses for goods and services.
A hospitality manager is in charge of coordinating staff. The manager must be able to train their employees to perform their tasks skillfully and efficiently. A hospitality manager will oversee a variety of staff. In a hotel setting, these staff might include front desk staff, sales staff, and housekeeping staff. In a restaurant setting, the manager is in charge of all kitchen staff including the chefs as well as front of the house staff such as hosts and waiters. The manager is responsible for hiring staff and overseeing their work.
Hospitality managers are responsible for allocating their facility’s financial resources. This includes accounting tasks such as recording money that is used for expenses as well as recording income and calculating profits. The manager may also be responsible for developing budgets for the expenses related to running the facility. This includes both daily running expenses, as well as equipment purchases.
Prospective students will find that schools offer degree programs in hospitality management through their school of business or culinary arts school, or both. The classes that you will take depend on the type of program that you select. You should keep your career goals in mind when selecting your program. If you wish to go into the restaurant management business, you should pick a program that places an emphasis on culinary skills as well as management. If you are only interested in the management side of the job, you should select a program that places an emphasis on developing management skills.
Recent hospitality management program graduates who are looking to get their start in this career field should look into getting an internship in the industry. Doing internships will teach recent graduate practical management skills as well as give them insights on their own likes and dislikes. Experience gained in internships will help give recent graduates resume-building experience and career direction.
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